National Republican., 1887-07-14
The nI,ss,ssinpi Penitent,ary.

The grand jury OF finds county, Miss,
has been investigating the condition OF the
convicts in the penitentiary OF that state,
and has made report which should make
every citizen of Mississippi hide his head
with shame.
''God will never smile upon state that
treats its convicts as Mississippi does,n
says grand jury composed Of citizens OF
that state. Nor should man smile upon 1t.
[rhe Memphis APpeai, a paper which has
a very large circulation in Mississippi, says:
''God will never smile upon state that
treats its convic;s as Mississippi does" Such
are the words of the grand Jury Of Hiuds
county In the report 1t made yesterday, afler
II had recited In plain words chapter Of the
history of the convict lease system. so hidcous
that 1t will make the cold chllls repeat them.
selves uron the reader at every sentence.
"God will never smile upon state that treats
its convicts as Mississippi does" No greater
condemnation was ever pronounced by the
grand inquest of any county in the Union. II
is the malediction of au Had of woes; 1t Is
the overlowing of O just Indignation; 1t is al
most as final appeal TO the Infinite. Oh! the
awful, the shocking, the horrible brutality
that this report reveals. Men beaten out o.
hil stlnUlluCe 10 tuVlr Hesu cut
into great welts, their toes eaten by the frost,
lice. eaten and reduced by sickness to the
supineness of indifference by worse than brute
beasts, their task masters in their covetouS
greed Of money. What is a leased convict
that he should excite the commiseratoi or
pity OF the lessee who enjoys his stible of
horses, leads in the society Of the capital, is
gay and dcbOnnGir, and reaches
for the consciences of men by
the lavish use of his money?
The Door waif and stray who once slept uppn
the tender and solicitou' bosom OF q mo.Eec,
who was hushed to sleep mlyhap by the
household hymns that are among the mos.
precious treasures of our race-this vagaboni
for whom the passion and a,onement of Chris.
stiil waits, has no right to the pity of word
with meanings of kindness. He has been sold
by great commonwealth of free men into
slavery that ends in death through stripes
diseases that tester in his own fifth to be eaten
by vermin the progeny of the dirt in which he
wallows, and that is never disturbed. Yes, 1t
is true. God will never smile upon n state
that treats its convicts as Mississippi doe. !"
The curse and protest of humanity rests upon
the brute beasts who are the authors of this
woe.
The Memphis Appeal is a leading and
representative southern Democratic paper,
and its terrible arraignmens Of Mississippi
''cal not be whistled down the wind" as
Republican or northern abuse OF southern
state, as 1t would be II printed in north
ern Republican paper These facts shown
by the grand jury have been more than
cree expressed by northern papers, bat
have been denounced as false. This can be
done no longer.
Nor is Mississippi the only southern state
where brutality is practiced upon the con.
yicts; the facts have more than once been
ehown, but so far no grand jury in any OF
these states has been brave enough to tell
the story.
The penal codes of the southern states are
framed so that negroes can be sent to the
penitentiary for minor offenses. Stealing a
chicken or watermelon puts negro-not
white man--in the penitentiary and subjects
him to the horrors described by the Missis-
sippi grand jury when it says OF these poor
unfortunates:
Most of them have their backs cut iu great
wales, scars. and blisters; some with the skin
peeliDg of In pieces aS the result of severe
beatipgs. Their feet and hands In some in.
stances show signs OF frost bite, and all Of them
with the stamp of manhood almost blotted out
of their faces, which show that they have
been treated more cruelty and brutally than a
nation ofsayages ought to permit Inflicted upon
itsconyictS, They are lying there dying, some of
them on bare boards, so poor and emaciated
that their bones almost come through their
skin, many complaining for the waut of food.
In the interest OF humanity 1t is to b.,
hoped that this exposure will lead to new
system In Mississippi, and that other south
ern states will take heed and change before
similar exposures are made.